Difficulty Adjustment vs Halving

Difficulty adjustment is Bitcoin's automatic mechanism that recalibrates mining difficulty every 2,016 blocks to maintain the 10-minute average block time, ensuring consistent block production regardless of whether mining power increases or decreases dramatically.

Halving is a programmed event in Bitcoin's protocol that occurs approximately every four years, cutting the mining reward for new blocks in half, systematically reducing the rate at which new bitcoins enter circulation until the maximum 21 million supply is reached.